Rwangombwa outlines Safety and Security in Going Cashless

Embracing cashless lifestyle is more convenient and safer that carrying around loads of cash, the Rwanda central Bank Governor John Rwangombwa has said.

Research conducted by the central bank in 2016 shows that lack of knowledge on existing non cash means was hindering the uptake of products on the market.

“One of the selling points is looking at convenience and safety. By the end of the day, the more we transact using digital means, the faster the turnaround of economic activities,” Rwangombwa told CNBC Africa.

Rwangombwa was commenting on the ongoing progress in the CashlessRwanda campaign under which the country targets to increase digital money transactions contrary to cash flows and handling during payments.

According to the international Growth Center, using cash as a means of payments costs national economies 1.5% of GDP yet stubbornly, 85% of global consumer payments continue to be made in cash.

The central bank target to have all Rwandans taking up taking Cashless Rwanda from 21%GDP to 80% by 2024.

Apparently Rwanda has seen a growth in non-cash payments initiatives with mobile money subscription growing to -more than 9.735, 694million registered accounts in 2017 from 639.673 accounts in 2011.

While the number of PoS and ATMs increased from 99 in 2010 to 2,031 in 2017; and from 84 to 405 ATMs in the same periods.

However usage of financial services increased in form of deposits with deposit accounts shooting from 1,736,203 in 2016 to 1,871,858 in 2017.

In cash flows, Rwanda government spends Rwf2billion annually to print paper money while Rwf15billion is used by banks during cash handling annually.

In the meantime, shares on Rwanda Stock Markets a remained constant despite an impressive performance the previous day.